A collection of thoughts, ideas, and opinions independently written by members of the MSU community and curated by MSU Libraries

Modeling learning

I recently read an article by Bruner on “Models of the learner” which sparked my thinking about what a “model” is and how learning is “modeled” in theories of learning. I found it helpful to think of models of learning as simplified representations of aspects of the theories and how they are related.

Behaviorist “models” of learning were useful for explaining and predicting behavior and learning, but they failed to explain and predict things not caused by stimuli. Likewise, according to those with a sociocultural perspective, cognitive models are useful for explaining and predicting behavior and learning, but it does not explain so well how and why context affects individuals. A lot of present debate on theories of learning concerns an open question — whether the cognitive or sociocultural model is better at explaining and predicting behavior and learning. Is the best model the one that combines aspects of both?